LAS VEGAS — Kyle Busch has had plenty of highlights in his short NASCAR career: setting a record as the youngest winner in series history, giving Toyota its first victory and returning Joe Gibbs Racing’s flagship car to prominence.

None of it compared with winning at home.

Busch notched his biggest victory Sunday by driving from the back of the field to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Although there are far more hallowed tracks in NASCAR, this 1.5-mile oval in the desert was where “The Wild Thing” most wanted to win. He proved that with an elaborate celebration that ended with him on his knees, kissing the finish line.

“I tell you what, this is pretty cool,” Busch said. “I didn’t know exactly what it would mean, but coming to the checkered flag, there were knots in my stomach. It’s bigger than winning the Daytona 500. I said it wasn’t going to be, but it is.”

Busch came prepared at the start of the weekend, beating big brother, Kurt, for the pole to put brothers on the front row for the first time since 2000. But an engine change in his Toyota meant he had to drop to the back of the field at the start, and he had to power his way through over 285 laps.

In a brief address to the crowd before the start, he promised to get to the front.

“I just said, ‘Hey, you know what? We’re going to the back so get ready for a show. Here it comes,'” he recalled. “Even if I got up to 20th and then backed it in, it was still going to be a show.”

Busch took the lead with 57 to go, then lost it during a late round of pit stops. He was third on a restart with 22 to go, then chased down Jeff Burton and leader Clint Bowyer to move out front again.

“Say goodnight, Gracie,” spotter Jeff Dickerson radioed as Busch moved out to a dominating lead.

But there were two more cautions, and Busch had to hold off the competition over two final restarts for his first victory of the season.

“We just had to battle back,” Busch said. “We didn’t have the best car out there, but we had a car we kept on working on. I don’t know where I get credited for winning this thing, whether it’s from the back or from the pole. Either way, we conquered both of them.”

Bowyer finished second and Burton was third, bouncing back from a horrible run last week at California.

Matt Kenseth, trying to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three races of the season, lost his engine six laps in and finished last.

Kenseth sensed a problem during the warm-up laps. A caution on the second lap gave him a chance to head for pit road, where his crew quickly tried to fix the problem. But once back on the track, he knew the motor was about to fail.

“You guys can start packing it up, I’m going to be there in two laps,” he radioed his Roush Fenway Racing team.

Sure enough, the motor failed by Lap 6.

“How you can blow up in warm-ups?” he questioned crew chief Drew Blickensderfer over the radio. “Anyway, great job the last two weeks. Pretty disappointing.”

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